Winners of the second Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition — and the first to be held in Dallas — were announced Saturday evening at the Meyerson Symphony Center: Shuan Hern Lee, 16, of Australia, $15,000 first prize; Eva Gevorgyan, 15, of Russia/Armenia, $10,000 second prize; and JiWon Yang, 17, of South Korea, $5,000 third prize.
Each finalist will also receive a $2,000 scholarship provided by the Fort Worth Piano Teachers Forum for further musical advancement. Top prizes include residency and mentorship opportunities with the Cliburn.
Three additional $500 prizes were presented: the audience award to Avery Gagliano, 17, of the U.S.; the peer award to J J Jun Li Bui, 14, of Canada; and the press award to Gevorgyan. Cash awards of $2,000 also will go to each of the semifinalists: Bui, Gagliano and Chun Lam U, 16, of Hong Kong.
In the final round, on Saturday afternoon, each of the finalists performed a concerto with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, led by former assistant conductor Ruth Reinhardt. Preliminary, quarterfinal and semifinal rounds were devoted to solo recitals; the semifinal round also included concertos (or movements thereof) performed with accompaniment of a second piano. The 12-day competition began with 23 pianists, narrowed to 14, then six, before selection of the three finalists.
For what it's worth, at least based on the performances with the orchestra, I would have ranked the three finalists in exactly the opposite order. But the jury, chaired by pianist Alessio Bax, was charged with judging the pianists over all four rounds; I heard only the last two.
In the concertos, all three of the pianists played quite nobly in the more introspective sections. It was hard to imagine such command and mature expression from pianists only of junior and senior high school ages. (The main Cliburn competition is for pianists 18 to 30; the junior competition is for ages 13 to 17.) Technical command of major-league repertory was never in doubt.
What made Yang's Tchaikovsky First Concerto stand out for me was her unfailing control of the proceedings. She was not about putting on a show, or showing how fast or how loudly she could play. She was all about expressing the music naturally and nobly.
She also seemed unique among the three finalists in actually listening to the orchestra, rather than always expecting it to follow her. Apart from a split horn note right at the beginning, and some fuzzy brass chords, the orchestra also did its best playing here.
I was unconvinced by her ponderous opening tempo, but pacings otherwise were fine. She never fell for the young pianist's temptation to rush the fast music.
Lee opted for the greater technical challenges of the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto, even the big alternate first-movement cadenza. This doubtless gave him a leg up in the competition, as did his choice of showpieces in the semifinal round. His formidable technique and power fairly exploded from the stage.
But he kept rushing faster music, to an extent that the orchestra simply couldn't coordinate, and thereby sacrificing shape. This also cheapened what is, after all, a great piece of music.
Reinhardt and the DSO deserved hazardous-duty pay for trying to hold things together. Indeed, in all three concertos, with minimal rehearsal, Reinhardt gave incisive musical direction.
Gevorgyan played elegantly in the more moderately paced variations of the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. But, from the fourth variation, she pushed faster tempos toward breathlessness, leaving the orchestra scrambling to keep up. Just because you can play that fast doesn't mean you should, or that it serves the music; faster is not automatically more exciting. DSO violins were surprisingly scrappy in the theme and first variation.
Formerly staff classical music critic of The Dallas Morning News, Scott Cantrell continues to cover the beat as a freelance writer. Classical music coverage at The News is supported in part by a grant from the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. The News makes all editorial decisions.
More about the First Prize winner
Read classical music fellow Tim Diovanni's feature on winner Shuan Hern Lee's family and what it takes to raise a Cliburn champion here.
